In statements published this Monday by the daily newspaper Il fatto Quotidiano, the senior military chief referred in particular to the training of Ukrainian officers in Italy to handle the Samp-T anti-missile systems that Rome will send to Kiev in the coming days as part of his weapon support.
Bertolini assured that the risks of such behavior are manifold, “since such clear partisanship only hinders any kind of peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia,” the publication said.
“The risk is doubled because, firstly, we continue to add fuel to the fire by supplying arms and energy to another state involved in a conflict that risks turning into an endless war,” the general said adding: “On the other hand, we are stealing valuable resources from our defense.”
“Then there is the progressive erosion of our sovereignty,” because, as he warned, “it cannot stop suffering if our defense needs are subordinated to those of other countries alien to our alliances,” in “a conflict that we are only now recognizing have at the last moment while the fire has been burning for at least eight years since 2014.”
Last Sunday, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that at least 20 Ukrainian soldiers are taking part in a training cycle in the use of the Samp-T missile defense system at the headquarters of the Italian Army’s Anti-Aircraft Artillery Command in the town of Sabaudia, in the Latina province, 95 kilometers south of Rome.
The president of the opposition 5 Star Movement (M5S), Giuseppe Conte, said this morning that the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Italy was “the sign of that nation’s increasingly active participation” in the confrontation between that country and Russia, at the same time that it “a new escalation in this war conflict confirmed”.
“Step by step, weapon by weapon, we find ourselves fully engaged in this war, without our government and Europe trying to find an alternative strategy to go down the path of negotiations and reach a peaceful solution,” said the M5S leader .
We must focus all our efforts on the diplomatic level because we risk finding ourselves in a third world war,” added the politician.
In December last year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the training of Kiev soldiers on Italian territory, which was rejected by that country’s defense ministry.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, meeting with President Volodomir Zelensky on February 21 in Kiev, reiterated her government’s wartime support for that country in the conflict with Russia, stressing that “we are focusing on the anti-aircraft defense systems, Samp-T, Spada and Skyguard”.
mem/orth